


All-Nighter

by myranium (keyholes)



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: M/M, Tekkit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-11
Updated: 2012-10-11
Packaged: 2017-11-25 19:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keyholes/pseuds/myranium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lalna's bad habit of burning the midnight oil catches up with him, it's up to Xephos to help him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All-Nighter

Xephos yawned as he sat on his bed in the dawn light, his sheets temptingly warm. He looked over to Honeydew's large bed, not surprised that it remained unslept-in again. The dwarf had taken to camping on Pig Island full-time, only appearing to feverishly make stacks of wool, mumbling always about pigs. Xephos sighed, thinking of it. His friend had always had a weakness for cute things, and it was quite a sight to see the strong dwarf suddenly drop his battle axe and melt in a gushing cascade of "AWW!"s at whatever had caught his eye this time, but even for him, this was getting obsessive.

Xephos looked to Lalna's bed, similarly untouched, and scratched his head. Not another case of pig madness, he thought, cringing at the idea.

He got dressed, straightening out his bed so it matched the others, brushing out the creases with a satisfied flourish. Walking the short distance to the factory, he checked the saner of the two noticeboards as he passed. A new sign had been tacked to the side that read in Lalna's cramped script: "Redstone."

As Xephos entered the factory the machine wall whirred away, fed by the sunshine and the quarries burrowing ever deeper beneath them. He flew to the open top floor, and found Lalna slumped over a crystal chest, snoring gently. Xephos smiled, touching down beside him, and resting his hand gently on the scientist's shoulder.

Lalna jumped awake, blinking at the sudden light.

"You've got to stop doing this, friend," Xephos said.

"I'm fine," Lalna replied, getting his bearings. "I-I just need to finish this."

"Why don't you get some sleep? I can work on the sorting machine," Xephos offered.

"Er," Lalna hesitated. Xephos' track record with machinery wasn't in his favour. "Well..."

"Look, you're half-asleep. Go to bed. I can handle it."

"But-" Lalna started.

"Go." Xephos said firmly.

Lalna sighed, reluctantly giving in.

"By the way, what's that thing on the board, something about redstone?" Xephos asked.

"Oh that," Lalna said heavily. "Honeydew condensed all our redstone to make wool, and now there's none left."

"None at all?" Xephos stared at the chests around them despairingly.

"Nope." Lalna confirmed. "And it'll be ages before our quarries get that deep."

"Urgh," Xephos grunted.

"I need to make one more sorter, so if you're working on the machine, I'll go mining," Lalna said.

"Lalna, you need sleep," Xephos said, crossing his arms.

"Nah, I'll be fine," Lalna dismissed him. "I'll just go down the quarry in the basement, and into that chasm, there's bound to be some down there."

Xephos frowned, he had the distinct feeling this was a bad idea, but before he could say anything, the scientist flew down the hole to the lower floors, and disappeared down the ladder. Xephos got to work, looking through the chest marked Unsorted, and sighing heavily. There was so much to do.

***

Lalna rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he landed in the chasm, its rough walls towering over him on either side. He stepped over a narrow stream of lava, and spotted a dark cave leading away behind it. He placed a torch at the entrance, trying to peer in, but saw only blackness. With a gulp, he walked in, one hand against the cool stone, as much to keep him upright as to guide him, leaving a trail of torches as he went. 

The cave system snaked steadily downward. It was untouched, and Lalna passed countless gleaming veins of iron and copper, searching for a glimpse of scarlet dust, shaking his head every time his eyelids drifted shut. After what seemed like an eternity, Lalna placed a torch and a dead end stared resolutely back at him. He turned to begin the return journey, a frustrated breath escaping his lips, when he suddenly spied a glint of redstone high up in the wall. He grinned and hovered up to it, pulling out his emerald pick and plunging it into the block, cleaving it in two.

"Ahh yeah," he declared with a grin, catching the cluster of redstone dust in his hand, and stowing it in his pocket. His pick still shook slightly with the force of the blow, and examining it, Lalna realised it was very nearly spent; the emerald was badly cracked, and of all the things he carried in his pockets, covalence dust wasn't one of them. He cursed himself for not repairing it before he left, but then stopped for a moment, sure he'd heard something. He looked up cautiously at the stone above him, and a low rumbling noise met his ears. He fell back as a colossal mass of gravel collapsed into the cavern, blocking his way out.

Lalna coughed in the dust cloud that had engulfed him as he grasped the wall to stand up, his muscles leaden with exhaustion. He frowned at the gravel, searching through his pack for his shovel. Grasping its handle, a bright glow shone back at him reflected in its smooth surface. He spun around, seeing lava flowing down over the gravel. Jumping back in alarm, he fumbled for his pick and started a rough staircase out of the stone. He had barely made it four steps when his pick shattered, the emerald fragments scattering around his feet.

"Bloody hell," he cursed, as the lava lapped against the bottom step, trapping him in. "Now what?" he asked himself.

***

Xephos lifted his head out of the crystal chest, banging it on the lid. He swore under his breath, rubbing his scalp, but stood for a moment, listening. He heard nothing, but felt the floor shiver under him, faint reverberations running through the soles of his shoes. He climbed the scaffolding, and looked over the landscape for something amiss, but only the familiar buildings and green hills met his eyes, falling away to the swamps and sea beyond. He slid back down, and peered over the factory floor. Even with the machine wall ticking away, it seemed eerily quiet. How long had he been working, he wondered. He tipped his head skyward, searching for the sun; it was mid-afternoon already. Lalna should have been back by now.

He flew down the ladder, his hands barely touching the rungs, and into the hatch to the basement. Hovering over the old quarry, he searched for signs of life, but saw only bedrock, its little gasps of smoke rising lazily into the air before dissipating. He passed over the chasm, going back and forth, but finding nothing. He was ready to give up when he saw it; a single torch, its small light overcome by the lava outflow beside it. Xephos headed towards it, finding a cave extending behind it, torches haphazardly marking the way into the depths. Following them, he went ever deeper, the glow from the lava flow he had passed was a long forgotten memory when he found himself facing a sheer wall of gravel, small stones still trickling down and throwing up dust.

He pulled out his shovel and got to work. Flint tore at his hands, but he carried on, praying he wouldn't trigger another collapse. He realised suddenly that the gravel was getting warmer. He touched it with the back of his hand, and yanked it away with a yelp, shaking it hard to cool it. Xephos stood back, and prodded the gravel ahead gingerly with the tip of his shovel, making a small hole. Lava trickled thickly through it, gathering on the floor of the tunnel, a pool of liquid heat. Taking a deep breath, Xephos jabbed the gravel ahead hard; he felt his shovel reach the other side before he pulled it back quickly, and lava flooded in. He backed out of the tunnel, grabbing his pick, and began mining a small stack of cobblestone. Holding the blocks at arm's length, he hurried back to the lava, and plugged the flow as best he could, aiming them upward into the shocking brightness, his other arm shielding his face as he felt his eyebrows singeing, the smell of burning filling his nose.

Finally, the lava slowly stopped, just a handful of escapee globs dripping through the seams of the cobblestone. Xephos blinked, the light in the cave reduced to a single torch ahead of him. He clambered through the gap, finding a little hole carved into the stone, Lalna's boots just visible poking out of it.

"Lalna!" he exclaimed in relief, cramming into the tight staircase next to the scientist, promptly realising he was fast asleep. "I told you to go to bed," Xephos whispered, smiling.

Xephos lifted Lalna carefully into his arms as he slept on, and carried him back through the tunnel. He hovered, and flew the rest of the way down the cavern, ducking his head, until the chasm stretched out above him, and he turned right into the old quarry. He flew up and out of the basement, past the factory floor, and up past the sorting machine into the open air. The sun was setting, the sky ablaze with pink and orange. The breeze was soft against Xephos' face, and he smiled, glad to be free of the claustrophobia and darkness below.

He landed softly beside the work shed, nudging open the door with his arm before walking in sideways, careful not to knock Lalna's feet. Xephos placed the scientist carefully onto his bed, and looked down at his sleeping face; he was covered in dust and dirt. Xephos rummaged through the chests as quietly as he could, searching for a woollen towel and a bucket. Pulling them out triumphantly, he slipped outside and washed his hands in the river before he filled the bucket from just upstream, carrying it back with infinitesimal care, not spilling a single drop. He sat on the side of Lalna's bed, putting the full bucket down beside him, and plunging the towel in. He wrung it out methodically, shaking the reticent drops from the edges, and gently wiped Lalna's brow. Lalna's eyes flickered slowly open.

"What time is it?" Lalna asked, his voice thick with sleep.

"Nearly night," Xephos answered, wondering if Lalna would remember this conversation tomorrow.

"Oh," Lalna said simply. "Okay."

His eyes sunk closed again, and Xephos smiled, shaking his head. He dabbed at Lalna's face, taking off the worst of the dirt. Leaning forward, he kissed Lalna's forehead, mumbling "Sleep well, friend."

Xephos turned to stand, but Lalna took his hand. "Stay?" he whispered in question.

"But I need to go and empty this," Xephos said, looking down at the now murky water.

"Please?" Lalna asked.

Xephos eyed the half-awake scientist, and sighed wearily. "Alright," he said, resting the towel at the edge of the bucket.

Lalna shifted over to the far side of the bed, and tugged at Xephos' hand. Xephos raised his eyebrows, but let himself be pulled downward, so he lay beside Lalna.

"Friend..." Xephos started.

"Shh, you're warm," Lalna said, wrapping his arms around Xephos, his face settling into a soft smile. 

Xephos tentatively returned Lalna's embrace, stroking his hair as the scientist nodded off, with Xephos not far behind as his eyes struggled to stay open, cocooned in the shared warmth of their bodies.


End file.
